General Liability Insurance
General liability protects your business against third-party claims of bodily injury and property damage that aren't tied to the product itself — a visitor injured at your plant, damage to a vendor's property, premises slip-and-falls.
General Liability for Manufacturers
While product liability follows your goods into the market, general liability protects your business at and around the facility. Vendors, delivery drivers, customers, and visitors are on your premises regularly, and everyday operations create third-party injury and property-damage exposure that GL is built to cover.
What GL Covers
- Bodily injury: A visitor or vendor injured at your plant or office
- Property damage: Your operations damage someone else's property
- Premises liability: Slip-and-fall and other accidents at your facility
- Personal & advertising injury: Libel, slander, and advertising-related claims
- Medical payments: Minor injuries handled without a lawsuit
GL and Product Liability Together
These two coverages are often written together in a package, but they answer different exposures:
- General liability → injuries and damage *at your premises and from your operations*
- Product liability → injuries and damage *caused by your product after it ships*
A complete manufacturing program needs both, structured so there's no gap between the plant floor and the marketplace.
Certificate & Contract Requirements
Landlords, lenders, and many vendor and supply agreements require GL with them named as additional insured. Standard limits are $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate; larger contracts and big-box retailers often require higher, supported by an umbrella. We issue certificates same-day.
Completed Operations Connection
GL also houses your products-completed operations sub-limit — the coverage for claims arising after your work or product is complete. For manufacturers, getting that limit right is critical (see completed operations coverage).
What's Covered
Frequently Asked Questions
They cover different things. Product liability responds to harm caused by your product in the field; general liability responds to injuries and property damage at your premises and from your operations. Manufacturers need both, usually in one package.
$1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate is standard. Large retailers, distributors, and supply contracts often require higher limits backed by an umbrella, plus an additional insured endorsement — which we issue same-day.